https://plus.google.com/+granthamuniversity/posts/9DA8tw5jBPT In the United States, Memorial Day, which occurs each year on the last Monday of May, represents a holiday in which we recognize the sacrifice of our fallen military service members. In early rural America, the custom of honoring ancestors by cleaning cemeteries and decorating graves was usually performed in late summer and was often an occasion for family reunions and picnics. After the Civil War, America's need for a secular, patriotic ceremony to honor its military dead became prominent, as ceremonies centering on the decoration of soldiers' graves were held in towns and cities throughout the nation.